The Alternate Story of Harry Potter
by Eve Powell
Summary: What happens when Harry enters another reality where his mother and deceased companions are alive?
1. Love rebounded

**I had to make a few changes because I realized I had to fix some inaccuracies, like terms that J.K. Rowling used just to make it more credible. It was just kind of bothering me and I thought I'd better make these changes to keep a consistency with J.K. Rowling's writing. I think it's more fun that way, to me anyway, if I keep as close to her version so that it can seem believable enough for people to enjoy! And by the way, there is more to come! **

**The Alternate Story of Harry Potter **

**By Eve Powell**

Chapter 1 Love re-bounded

"_You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the world-be victim who had survived…. his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped."—_Dumbledore (by J.K. Rowling).

His mind had that same sensation as when he entered a memory with Dumbledore's Pensieve…. Harry stood in the Forbidden Forrest frozen as if in _time_ –in time itself. He knew how the battle in front of Hogwarts had ended, along with Snapes's death and Voldemort's demise.

So why was he here again? Standing in the Forbidden Forrest and the sounds of the distant battle going on in front of Hogwarts. And how had he gotten back to this moment, this very same place in time and for what purpose? Or was it that he had returned to this point in time because of some purpose? He remembered he had dropped the Resurrection Stone on the ground. He remembered staring at it with the crack down the middle, which had represented the Elder Wand. His toe, through his shoe came in contact with something. Wasn't it here that he had dropped the Resurrection stone?

Hesitating, Harry looked around him. The forest was so still. Almost too still. As if frozen. There was no movement anywhere. No wind or even a tiny breeze and the air that Harry breathed in and exhaled was sterile as if even the act of breathing came from a different source. He bent to look at the object beneath the toe of his shoe expecting to see the familiar black stone with the crack down the middle. But when he picked up the object, the stone that he now held in his hand was obviously not the Resurrection stone at all. Harry slid his thumb over the texture of the stone, feeling its smooth surface. He looked at it realizing it was the Philosopher's Stone he held. But hadn't that been destroyed? And what would it be doing here in the same spot or close to the same spot as where he had last held the other stone?

As soon as he thought of that he found the surroundings change. No longer was he standing in the still of the Forrest, but now he was facing his own reflection in front of the Mirror of Erised…. But on the other side of the mirror facing himself was…. himself as an eleven-year-old boy. The same boy that he had been at eleven, now oh so long ago…. before everything else had happened.

And there too was Professor Quirrell standing next to his younger self! He was wearing his purple turban under- which he knew -what or rather _whom_ lay. Eleven-year-old Harry was now staring back at himself in the mirror, looking at himself as he stood now almost a fully grown man and holding what seemed to be the Philosopher's Stone. How had this happened? Was this an illusion? Or was the Resurrection Stone only just changed in appearance alone? He glanced down now at his own hand as the older of the Harries.

Harry's eye was caught back to the mirror where he saw his younger image touch his pocket. He remembered doing that. But this time on the other side of the glass he saw the red glow of the Philosopher's Stone through the eleven-year-old Harry's robe pocket. The stone he had been holding was ….gone. How had he given it to his younger self through the mirror?

The surprise of this was surpassed by the shock of the sudden emergence of Dumbledore.

Harry began to suspect that he was standing in a gap in time, of time, within the space-time continuum, which had pretzeled in order to change certain events…. And here now stood Dumbledore!

His mind scrambled, along with the need to account for his memories of what he had already seen happen and the preceding events just before he found himself standing there again in the Forbidden Forrest.

What was the last thing he remembered…? Harry recounted his thoughts. He'd gone on a walk towards the Forbidden Forrest, still recovering at the school hospital from the show down in front of Hogwarts. He like so many others who had survived that fateful day were all recovering in the hospital wing (some had been apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.). By the next day he had begun to feel well enough for Madam Pomfrey to suggested Harry take some exercise. Nobody wanted to let him out of their sight as he had become ever more so their hero of all time and the special treatment he was getting was beginning to drive him crazy. All he wanted was for everything to be normal again. As if that could ever happen….

His feet had wandered aimlessly for a while. Then a thestrial had caught his eye as he began to walk into the direction of Hagrid's cabin. This had made him change his course. He wasn't sure why, like the time that he had taken the potion that he had won in Slughorn's Potion class, the year that he had become so adept from studying from the Prince's potion book (which later had turned out to be Professor Snape's during his youth). What made him think of that now?

As if reading his mind the way he always seemed to have the ability to, Dumbldore still standing in front of him said,

"I brought you here. To look at what you saw in the mirror and the Pensieve and consider how your outstanding honor as a wizard made you more than just an ordinary wizard and more than just the 'chosen one.' Chosen because an ancient magic charm had protected you and saved your life as an enfant out of love from your mother. A charm taught to her by a prince who proved, in the end, to have an honorable heart. Secret pacts of love are more than ordinary and this charm was no exception. I think you recall what this can do," and now Dumbledore handed Harry a gold chain with a tiny hourglass. He remembered this. It looked much like the one Hermione had used during the term when she had taken on more classes than she had time for. It was a Time Turner that could …re-tell time…. To change events.

"Turn three more times after I go. I pre-set it to bring you to an event, it is time for you to repay your mother's sacrifice of love …. The ancient charm she used giving of her own life to protect yours. This is the Rule of Love Re-bound."


	2. The Sacred Seal of Nobility of Wizardry

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**The Sacred Seal of Nobility of Wizardry**

Before Dumbledore left Harry's side he took his arm and they apparated together. There was the now familiar feeling of being sucked through a tight air pressure vortex and then Harry realized where Dumbledore had brought them. They were standing outside of the old ruined cottage in Godric's Hollow.

"What are we doing here?" Harry asked Dumbledore.

"There are a few lessons as your teacher that I never made the opportunity for you to be skilled in. It is time I remedied this." He went over to what looked like the remains of an old letter post box and Dumbledore opened it. He removed something that was wrapped in a dark cloth that had been stowed within. Unwrapping the cloth Harry saw that there was a vial with a liquid inside and…. Again, the Philosopher's Stone! How had it gotten back there after…

Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes rested upon Harry from behind his half-moon spectacles. His eyes were kind and indulgent but he said,

"There is no time to explain just now. But perhaps we shall have time when we meet again. Until that time you must take this vial and the Philosopher's Stone. First you must administer what is in the vial to restore her life, then you must take the stone back with you to my office. There will be instructions for you hidden behind my portrait. I shall leave you now, until then, know this: we are embarking on a journey that has never before been attempted by wizardry and the reason that we are able to is due to you, Harry."

"I don't understand," Harry said now, feeling his heart leap as if it could burst clear out of his body.

"Your worthiness earned by your noble heart and your past deeds of selflessness. But now I must go, I've things to attend. Remember, turn three times. Go in the back way," and with a _crack! _Dumbledore was gone_._

Standing in the spot where he remembered being with Hermione only just months past on Christmas, his mind spun. He sensed urgency and knew he should not waste time with his own thoughts when there was things at hand set for him to do. He put the Philosopher's Stone in his pocket, still wrapped. Slipping the chain around his neck he then turned the Time-turner three times. First the speeding sensation, as if going in reverse very, very fast. Colors seemed to run together spilling and blending together while shapes warped into each other and sounds blurred and rang inside his ears like the time when they saved Sirius this way…The scene of the ruined house before him altered slightly. There was mist in the air and something like ash or smoke emitted from the cottage. He hurried into the cottage going in the back way as Dumbledore had instructed.

Careful, not sure what he would be walking into, Harry found his way to the bedroom where he knew his crib had been, and taking great pains not to be looked upon by his infant self, Harry slipped into the room. He saw his mother lying on the floor. She wasn't breathing. He rushed to her side and poured the liquid from the vial into her mouth, supporting her head in his lap. She lay very still. She was so cold and her face was like pale marble. An ache welled in his chest; it felt as if his very heart was swelling from the emotions that stirred within him from looking down into her face. She was there with him in the flesh, and even as he had looked upon her face before, in the Mirror of Erised, at the graveyard where Cedric died and in Forbidden Forrest that time he had been facing the prospect of his own death not so long ago, this was the first time he had gazed upon her when she was more than a ghostlike form. But she was dead….

And he wept now. Did it not work? Was he too late after all? Had something gone wrong? His heart was wrenched anew and he bent over her prone body, placing his cheek against her chest. And then he felt it. At first very subtle and he wasn't sure if he imagined it. But then, no, it became stronger. The warm, rhythmic vibration of her heart beat against his face. He felt her hand stroke his hair and slowly raised his head to look down into her face. She looked at him with wonderment. Her eyes, green like his and so much like a mirror to be looking into yet bonded to the kinship between them behind them. His eyes spilled tears and then reflecting his so did hers.

"Mom?" he whispered afraid she'd disappear if he spoke too loudly.

"Harry…." she smiled sitting up slowly.

"We must go," Harry told her suddenly remembering the urgency that Dumbledore had spoken to him in minutes before.

He saw her turn to the crib and to the infant within, watched her hesitate.

"He will be all right," Harry smiled. "We must leave him."

"But who will care for him, Harry? The baby…he is just an infant."

"Hagrid will be here soon," he said the words before he even had to think them.

She raised one brow as if she understood,

"Yes… but must it be to Privet drive, I wonder?"

There was only time for a quick smile of understanding between them before Harry took his mother's arm and, following Dumbledore's instructions, apparated to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. The first face they saw was Professor McGonagall's and she stared speechlessly from behind square glasses. "I don't believe it, even seeing it with my own eyes!" and she flung her arms around Lily.

Harry watched this emotional exchange, watched Professor McGonagall's face stream with tears. He could not hold back from asking now,

"Professor, were you expecting us?"

Professor McGonagall seemed reluctant to be torn away from the joy of seeing her old beloved student and behind the square spectacles she seemed distracted and distant for a moment. Fixing her eyes steadily on Harry with much effort as she got hold of herself she drew her brows together and nodded,

"Oh yes. Indeed I have been. I assume by your arrival here and seeing the time turner on you that you have also met with Professor Dumbledore. Or I should say, the Headmaster."

"I don't understand, Professor. What is happening? Yes, I saw Professor Dumbledore; we were in Godric's Hollow. It is he who gave me the time turner and these," Harry dug inside his pocket and held the now empty vial and the wrapped Philosopher's Stone, which he now uncovered to show Professor McGonagall. "Professor Dumbledore said he had instructions for me behind his portrait." Only now did he realize that behind Dumbledore's desk where he knew his portrait had been placed the secret compartment behind the framed picture was presently open. Inside there was a gold cauldron and a piece of paper with some sort of written list in a long scrawled handwriting that Harry recognized.

And it was just then that someone else in the room made a throat clearing sound to draw attention to himself. A chill went down Harry's spine making him feel as if he was that young boy that had first sat in potion's class as a certain professor drew points from Gryffindor house. There was no mistaking Snape's voice even before any words had been spoken.

Harry's eyes were quickly drawn to the spot on the wall where he knew Snape's portrait to be hung. He had the same stern look in his eyes that he always had when he was giving a lecture.

"Make sure you follow the directions exactly, Potter," he said in his short clipped manner of speaking. "It is essential that you pay attention to the order of each step and the preparation of the materials."

Was it his imagination or did he see Professor McGonagall look quickly from the portrait of Snape to his mother, watching them closely. Professor McGonagall's eyes seemed to rest for a while on Lily's face, as if to study her intently. Lily was staring in the direction of Snape's portrait, one hand against her heart as if it had skipped a beat.

"Severus…." She had spoken his name aloud but very, very softly in a small voice perhaps not realizing she had spoken the name out loud. But he seemed to have heard her and now Harry saw Professor Snape's portrait try to turn to look at her.

"Lily…."

Harry had never heard him speak so gently or softly before. The sound of his voice saying his mother's name like that disarmed him and for reasons that he did not understand his eyes seemed to burn behind his glasses as he watched his mother stare back at the portrait. She seemed afraid to move.

"Please, let me see you," Snape seemed to beg now, his voice heavy with emotions that Harry had no idea he was capable of. As Lily walked slowly towards the portrait Snape's eyes widened as if the sight of her required this in order to fully take her in. Somehow the black of Snape's eyes were lacking their familiar coldness. Instead they appeared to burn with a kind of incandescent heat as he dragged his eyes over every detail of Lily standing now before him. Quietly, breathlessly Snape said, "it worked…. You're alive…. The elixir…. It restored you…." And now his voice caught as a tear openly rolled down his sallow face.

"Severus…." And now Lily stood before him and knelt to him, "I knew it was you who had prepared it."

He seemed to need a moment to recover himself and didn't speak for a moment.

As if to cover up for him, Lily quickly said,

"Thank you so much, Severus….thank you for all you've done for Harry. I know it wasn't easy and it was more than I deserved from you."

When Snape managed to recover his voice well enough to speak again he said,

"Professor, will you take the boy and leave us? I require a moment alone with his mother."

Professor McGonagall looked from Snape's portrait to Harry with a funny look of something close to indecent shock planted across her face. For some reason, Harry felt himself blush. Without a moment's hesitation Harry moved towards Professor McGonagall and they stepped outside the Headmaster's door.

"Lily…." He said when the door had shut.

She was looking up at him knelt where she was from the floor before him on her knees. Her own face was streaked with tears.

"You were always my best friend," she said and wept the last words.

"And you mine, and so much more. Please forgive me, I am ashamed for how I've regarded your son."

"How can I blame you?" she raised up to meet his eyes closely.

"You were right about me. I was blind about the Dark Lord. I deserved to lose you."

Lily had to wipe the tears from her eyes as they obstructed her vision. This gave her an excuse to decide what to say next as so many thoughts fought to be spoken first out of her mouth.

"Severus…. We have both been mistaken by people."

"I'm sorry about Wormtail."

"I'm sorry about James." And here she took a deep breath; she had meant to tell him so many things for so long before that Halloween night when Voldemort had showed up in Godric's Hollow at the cottage. She had always felt wrong about how they had fallen out with each other. It had been mostly about James. Could she blame Severus for being jealous? And hadn't James always taunted Severus unkindly? Yes, it was true that Severus had put all his faith and trust in the Dark powers of Voldemort and this further had dragged their paths in separate directions. But Lily always felt she could have prevented him from choosing that way. That he had been driven by rage and heart break for her. She had been so young and sometimes headstrong.

"What are you saying?" he asked sharply drawing his brows together, "Every person makes their own choices and Potter—"

"Perhaps I should have been as fair about you considering what a toe rag I knew James could be about you. Yes, I fell in love with him, even as I knew he was arrogant and a show off. I've often felt…. sorry for…. losing my best friend. I missed you."

"Thank you…." And when he trusted himself again to speak he said, "it is inconsequential now, is it not? Potter and I are neither here nor there. And your son—is James to a T."

Lily chuckled,

"I'm not so sure Harry would agree with that. Besides, I wonder if James would have been as decent had Harry been yours and he had to save my son so many times as you have."

There was another clearing of throats. This time it was the familiar voice of Dumbledore from behind the open portrait door,

"I hate to interrupt this little re-union but you do realize we are under a sort of time frame, do you not, Severus? I believe it is time to call Harry and Minerva back to join us here."

"Yes, of course," Snape said now, flustered, "time is of the essence. We still have a lot to do and Harry must prepare the potion now."

The scrawled instructions on the parchment that lay beside the gold cauldron were Professor Snape's. Harry had become very familiar with his particular handwriting from using the Half Prince's potion book during the term he had under Slughorn as his Potions teacher. He knew how important it was to follow the directions exactly as stated. When he looked up from the parchment into the faces and eyes of the two women, who stood before him he said,

"This is preparation for the elixir for the Philosopher's stone?"

Again, there was the clearing of Dumbledore's throat from behind the open portrait door. Harry decided it was impolite to keep him facing the wall and quickly went to remedy this. He shut the portrait door. Strange now to be looking again into those twinkling blue eyes from behind the half-moon spectacles from his wall portrait. He had just seen him again and in the flesh only moments earlier standing in Godric's Hollow outside of the cottage and it was still unclear to him how this could be at all possible that he had been there.

"Professor," Harry hesitated, "I watched Professor Snape perform the killing curse that night you died, so how is it that you were just moments ago standing with me in Godric's Hollow?"

"We do not have a lot of time for explanations, but as your question is relevant I will say this: the elixir you will be preparing will be to save me from exactly that curse you speak of."

"But the curse from Voldemort's ring—I thought…. And the Philosopher's Stone, you had said it had been destroyed...?"

There was that twinkle in Dumbledore's blue eyes from behind the half-moon spectacles that made Harry suspect that once again Dumbledore may have omitted a few details or covered his own tracks with some imaginative altering of facts. Although Professor Dumbledore's expression was indulging of Harry's curiosity, it also spoke of the urgency behind the need for action and no time for explanations.

"Yes Harry, you are quite right, I did say that. Well—much has come to pass and we must venture forward and now make haste here. I promise you that I will one day explain it all to you. But most importantly you must understand that the reasons for our actions presently are all due to you and your outstanding honorable character that has allowed a few laws of wizardry to be –ahem—bent. For the greater good, to borrow a phrase from the past."

Professor McGonagall now spoke proceeded with a polite clearing of her throat,

"I beg your pardon, Professor Dumbledore, but as you requested I have sent for Hermione and Ron as you specified the importance of their involvement here."

"Oh, yes, indeed you are right to remind me. Are they come?" Dumbledore now asked.

"I believe I hear them now, excuse me," and she turned to the door as hesitant knocks were heard on the headmaster's office door.

Surprised by this Harry turned expectantly and excitedly to see his two closest friends come walking through the door. At first they only saw Harry standing there but once walking past Professor McGonagall, they noticed the woman with the dark red hair standing in the room who happened to have a pair of very familiar green eyes that were now looking back at them with an amusing expression.

Harry stepped over to them and quickly said,

"a lot is happening. There is no time to explain."

"Harry, you're wearing—is that my Time Turner?" Heroine asked sharply.

"Clever girl," Professor Dumbledore chuckled and now said, "Precisely why I am now entrusting you to be a part of this very important but highly secret mission, Miss Granger."

Hermione now looked at Dumbledore's portrait, she smiled modestly and said,

"Professor Dumbledore!"

"Yes. And our very loyal friend Ron Weasley. Harry is correct in saying there is little time to explain, as the Time Turner must now be set. There is, however time to briefly say this: with the outstanding actions of my fellow Gryffindor's the history of wizardry is about to undergo a few highly irregular and important tests. Leaving this earth I was remiss about passing on several lessons of utmost importance to Harry who earned the right of this knowledge through his actions of noble character. Along with you two, Miss Granger, Mr. Ron Weasley, I require your assistance to ensure that Dark Magic will have its rival in power safely in place so that no force like Voldemort will have free reign to overpower wizardry again without a fair fight. I was not able to complete Harry's education on some very important knowledge that would be forever lost in the archives of deceased wizard's minds. This is why we are all here now."

And now Lily turned to her son and placing her hand on his shoulder she looked into her son's eyes and said,

"I am so proud of you. You are truly a great wizard and deserve this great honor. I have watched over you with your father and you have earned great accolades deserving of your noble actions that show you are worthy to carry more than just the prize of inheriting the Invisibility cloak but to carry on the sacred Nobility of the Honor of the Seal of Wizardry."

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed proudly, his voice rasping with emotions, "your mother is quite right. Unlike myself, you have proved that you can be trusted with power not to become carried away with it and this is due entirely to your own choices and your own character. And this is also why such faith is being entrusted to you. To carry on the responsibilities I have had to take on in my own lifetime and to be sure you insure that the future of wizardry knowledge gained over the centuries remains safely complete for posterity."


End file.
